When asked if she thought raising the price would discourage bus users she thought regulars like herself would keep on using, but casual customers might give it a miss.
Welcome Bay woman Kelsey Gardiner, a daily bus user into town for her part-time job, found the price increase annoying and an inconvenience.
"I'm not stoked about it. It seems small - what's 20 cents - but then you realise that's 40 cents return. Using the bus five days a week, that's an extra $2 a week."
However, it was not a deal-breaker and Ms Gardiner would continue to use the bus service.
"I'll continue to ride because of traffic and parking issues in the city. I just hope it doesn't dissuade others from using the bus because public transport and biking are the only things that are going to help Tauranga's traffic problems."
Bus user Grace Terrain was caught out with exact change for the old fare this week.
"I always have exact change and the driver was definitely not going to let me on. Luckily a guy behind me had a spare 20 cents."
She was unfazed by the price increase, saying there were bigger issues such as how the fare was the same price regardless of how far you travel.
"I also think the bus times need to be extended, particularly at night and on the weekend. There's none after 6pm on the weekend," Ms Terrain said.
Hospitality suffered because of a lack of safe ways for people to get home after having a few drinks, she said.
"Our public transport is a joke and taxis are far too expensive."
Bay of Plenty Regional Council was not concerned the price increase would put off current or potential bus users.
Transport policy manager Garry Maloney said because the increase was relatively minor he expected there would be only a minor impact on patronage as a worst case scenario.
The bus fare increase was part of the Long Term Plan - regional council made the decision that it wanted users to contribute more to the cost of bus services.
The last price increase was in August 2015.
Another price increase was planned for the 2017/2018 financial year but Mr Maloney said whether that would happen was yet to be determined.
The regional council had been working to encourage bus use - running advertisements, activation activities such as Bayhopper Summer Tour and Car Free Day.
"Our aim is to reward our current bus users and to enable new users to give our services a go."
For a full list of fare changes go to: http://www.baybus.co.nz/faqs/fares/